I bought a Bible for Neema today. We were shopping in town for some more supplies for the kids and I saw her looking at the Bibles. I asked her if she wanted one and her face lit up. I told her to choose whichever one she wanted and she ended up taking a small, plain black Bible in Swahili. I grabbed a little case for it and put the Bible inside. The cost of the purchase was somewhere around $8 and you would think I just spent a fortune, the way she couldn't stop beaming about it. She told everyone she knew that we saw in town (we ran into a couple of pastors and her brother) and even called a few people.
$8. And for something most of us could find in the drawer at a cheap hotel. She made me write in it that it was a gift from me so she would pray for me every time she opened it. I think that was $8 well spent. :)
Buying supplies with Neema was fun. I told her to get whatever she needed and in true character, she didn't over buy or take advantage. We got some drawing books, pencils, crayons, chalk, dusters (we've just been using crumpled up paper to erase the board. Amazing what a good duster can do!), and some lesson plans to help her teach more effectively. Then we went and had lunch at the Union Cafe. It was a more westernized place where there were things like pizza and pastas on the menu rather than rice and ugali. I asked if she'd been there and she said only once before. That it's a place you go only if you have money. I don't think she understood really what was on the menu and so she just got "chips" or french fries. I had her try some of my pizza and she was so excited to tell everyone she tried pizza. She wrapped up all the leftovers to take home to the kids.
I've never been rich. I've been able to help people less fortunate than me, but this was completely different. I got to see through a different lens on this trip- one where money was no issue because my dollar went a long way, and even a tiny gesture of buying lunch for someone was a big deal to them. It planted a seed in me that I can actually do more in this world than I think. I have more power of influence and more creative ways of making a difference than I originally thought. In the US, it feels like small gestures and little donations hardly make any difference...but here, I can help alter the course of a life. Or many lives. My mind is spinning, and I like it. I'm thinking bigger and long term. I'm already planning my research strategy for when I'm home.
This was a good day.
